College Students Try Selling Their Research Ideas In The Real World, Sort Of
By David Madden
GLASSBORO, NJ (CBS) -- Rowan University students took part today in the school's 19th annual STEM symposium. Call it a practice session for the real world.
One-hundred-and-seventy-one different projects were presented in four sessions, everything from contact lenses that deliver drugs to Siamese fighting fish. The idea here, take student research projects and offer a professional presentation just like they'd have to do if trying to get funding for their proposals.
Professor Gregory Hecht organized the event. "This is very much like what a real science conference looks like," Hecht told KYW Newsradio, "and many of the science conferences are held in late spring and the summer and these students are using this as a dry run before they go off to their big show."
Among the challenges these students face is one far removed from any science or math lab. They're learning to sell their ideas in a competitive atmosphere where people with money make the decisions.